Competition for knowledge« wins for the second time technical secondary schools from Slovenia!

Unior Hand Tools has once again organized the Secondary Technical School Skills Competition to encourage young craftsmen to develop their skills.

At the end of 2023, we at Unior d.d. organized an educational competition for all secondary technical schools, this time for the second year in a row, called the Competition for Knowledge.

14 technical schools participating - 700 practical hours of work - the winning school, the Ptuj School Centre - generous practical prizes.

This year, for the second year in a row, Unior Hand Tools has organized an educational competition for all secondary technical schools, with the meaningful title Competition for Knowledge. This time, 14 secondary technical schools from all over Slovenia took part in the competition; Ljubljana, Maribor, Postojna, Škofja Loka, Ptuj, ... This year's challenge was even greater, as the students had two months to build a trailer that could be connected to an electric Tomos moped, which will be converted into an electric drive at the end of the project by none other than the renowned Croatian influencer Doctor DS. The total number of hours worked has thus exceeded 700, proving once again that the world is built on young people and that it is young people with their ideas and enthusiasm who are ready to create different and progressive ideas. This time, the winning work was created by representatives of the Ptuj School Centre.

There are almost 200 secondary schools in Slovenia, about 25 of which are technical schools. They are the breeding ground for new future masters who will pursue a variety of technical professions. These include machinists, electricians, car mechanics, toolmakers, mechatronics technicians and many others. Although these professions are all very different, what they all have in common is that they require strong practical skills and competences in addition to theoretical knowledge to be successful in their professions. So, of course, the key to a successful career is practical training and development. For the second year running, the Knowledge Competition, which Unior Hand Tools launched for the first-time last year, rewards this kind of knowledge. This year, the Knowledge Contest was dominated by practice and the practical skills of young people, as opposed to the theoretical knowledge of the previous year. They had to build a trailer that can later be connected to an electric moped. It is the latter that will now be converted at the end of the competition by Doctor DS, who has already taken the winning trailer home to test its real use value.

The closing event took place at the Nordung Space Centre in Vitanje. Representatives from Ptuj won first place with their technologically sophisticated and functional trailer. Among the representatives of the expert jury, there was also a great deal of praise for the way they presented themselves and for the presentation itself, which was professionally sophisticated. Not far behind with their product were the representatives of the Technical Education Centre from Maribor, whose trailer was also a major advance in the field of development and e-mobility, and whose presentation of the soft suspension took them to second place. Next came the Škofja Loka School Centre, which all the jury representatives agreed had an extremely simple and useful product that could be put on the road immediately. It therefore came third. In addition to the joy of winning the top prize, the first three winners also took home rich practical prizes, Unior hand tools. Everything from individual sets to the grand prize, a Unior tool trolley. Everything that young people and schools need to create and create new stories in their workshops.

"We made a commitment and a promise to the schools a year ago to keep the competition between technical secondary schools as a tradition. So, we are particularly pleased and proud that two more schools have entered the competition this year than last year. This shows that there is still a desire among young people to learn new skills and, above all, practical skills. According to the mentors, almost every group spent a minimum of 50 hours working, which the students also did in their free time. The resulting products, trailers, are not only technologically sophisticated but also functional, useful, aesthetically appealing, and advanced. From the drawing to the actual production, the products are the product of young people, which gives us hope for the future generations of technical schools," said Unior, Hand Tools Programme.

The Competition of Knowledge contest will thus be held again next year, with the focus of its purpose; to encourage young people to learn and develop their competences through fun. The cornerstone of the competition, however, remains the "education" of young masters who will appreciate their work and enrich their knowledge and practical skills, which they will be able to put to good use over the years of regular work.